No More Kicking and Screaming?

Kicker Ryan Killeen could not have picked a better time to be perfect.

Last week against previously unbeaten California, USC’s strong-legged senior touched the ball with his right foot 11 times.

Killeen boomed six kickoffs into or through the end zone for touchbacks, denying Cal good field position.

He made two extra points.

And with the usually potent Trojan offense sputtering inside the 20-yard line, he converted all three of his field-goal attempts.

His performance helped ensure a 23-17 victory that kept the unbeaten Trojans atop the rankings and on track for a possible second consecutive national title.

“For a kicker, I guess it can’t get any better than that,” Killeen said this week.

Fortunately for USC -- and for Killeen -- his field-goal kicking got better before it got worse.

He began the season as a candidate for the Lou Groza Award, presented annually to the nation’s top college kicker. But he went into the Cal game having made only two of six field-goal attempts for a team that had come from behind twice to win.

In the two weeks leading up to the Cal game, Coach Pete Carroll said he was not fretting over Killeen’s percentage.

“I was trying to operate like that anyway,” Carroll said. “It’s easier, knowing he’s back on and he really has his rhythm.”

USC is hoping Killeen maintains his groove Saturday when the Trojans play unbeaten, 15th-ranked Arizona State in a Pac-10 game at the Coliseum. With an already thin receiving corps depleted because of flanker Steve Smith’s broken leg, USC’s offense could struggle against a Sun Devil defense that is giving up only 12.8 points a game.

Dennis Slutak, a graduate assistant in his second season of coaching Trojan kickers and punters, said Killeen showed he could handle pressure by the way he worked through his struggles and performed against Cal.

“He’s not what many would stereotypically call a head case for a kicker,” Slutak said. “He’s a strong kid.”

Killeen’s powerful legs served him well as a youth soccer player. His prowess in playground kickball games caught the eye of a junior high teacher who doubled as the freshman football coach at Norco High.

“When I got to high school, he said, ‘You can play any position you want as long as you kick,’ ” Killeen said.

Killeen was not overjoyed at the prospect.

“He came home complaining, ‘Kickers are weird,’ ” recalled his father, Jim.

Killeen also played safety and receiver at Norco, but he followed a Sunday routine throughout his high school years: church and breakfast with the family in the morning, father-son kicking sessions in the afternoon.

Norco, however, rarely settled for field goals, and Killeen finished high school without an impressive resume. USC offered him a scholarship after he’d made eight of 11 field-goal tries at Mt. San Antonio College in 2001. With David Davis coming off an impressive junior season, Killeen was recruited primarily for kickoffs.

“They said, ‘You’ll get reps here and there on field goals, just to make sure you’re ready for the next season, and if anything happens where David’s having a bad year, you have to step in,’ ” Killeen said. “But they were not counting on that to happen.”

In the second game of the 2002 season, against Colorado, however, Davis missed an extra-point kick and was blocked on another extra-point try and a field-goal attempt. The following week, Kansas State blocked a second-quarter extra-point attempt and returned it for two points.

The Trojans immediately turned to Killeen, who finished the game. “I wasn’t expecting it,” Killeen said. “I just kind of got pushed into the situation.”

Killeen kicked three field goals the next week against Oregon State, but missed a costly extra-point try in regulation and a 52-yard field-goal attempt in overtime in a loss at Washington State. He finished the season 16 for 23 on field goals.

Last season, he was 19 for 24 -- one of his misses was on a 39-yard attempt in the third overtime of USC’s lone defeat, 34-31 at Cal -- and finished 12th nationally in scoring.

But this year, after missing four attempts in USC’s first four games, Killeen spent the next two weeks patiently answering reporters’ questions about his mechanics and confidence.

“I wasn’t going to let myself mentally beat myself up,” he said. “

Killeen worked daily with Slutak, studying videotape of each kick he made in practice.

He also sought the counsel of Sean Brawley, an acquaintance and former All-American tennis player at USC who has worked with several professional sports organizations on the mental aspects of preparation and performance.

“We talked about trusting what you do because you know how to do it ... small stuff that played a big factor in being confident,” Killeen said.

Killeen’s father also offered some words of wisdom. “I told him life is 10% what happens and 90% how you react to it,” Jim Killeen said.

Killeen responded with field goals of 31, 33 and 42 yards and six touchbacks against Cal.

“It doesn’t mean I’m just going to do it every time,” Killeen said. “But when you have a game like that, you realize you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing. You just want to keep it going.”

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Killeen’s Kicks

Statistics for USC senior kicker Ryan Killeen:

*--* YEAR FG-FGA Pct 01-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50+ Long Blk 2004 5-9 55.6 0-0 1-2 2-3 2-4 0-0 42 0 2003 19-24 79.2 0-0 9-10 8-11 2-3 0-0 45 0 2002 16-23 69.6 1-1 5-6 6-9 4-6 0-1 48 1 TOT. 40-56 71.4 1-1 15-18 16-23 8-13 0-1 48 1

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